WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the Iranian regime still has a clear, open path to international acceptance, despite the violence of the recent crackdown in Tehran.

"There is a peaceful path ... to legitimacy," Obama said, and "we hope they take it."

The president said Iran's "faith, sovereignty, and traditions" can be accepted while the country's government nevertheless adheres to a set of "international norms and principles" regarding violence and the right of peaceful dissent.

He argued that a broad cross section of Iranians have serious questions about the legitimacy of the June 12 election. Ultimately, he said, it is up to the Iranian people to decide what to do to resolve the current crisis.

The president made his remarks during a news conference at the White House.

President Obama said Tuesday that Iran is trying to ‘distract people from what is truly taking place within Iran's borders.’

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the accusations of some in the Iranian government that the United States is "instigating protests" are "patently false and absurd."

The accusations "are an obvious attempt to distract people from what is truly taking place within Iran's borders," Obama said.

"This tired strategy of using old tensions to scapegoat other countries won't work anymore in Iran. This is not about the United States and the West; this is about the people of Iran, and the future that they – and only they – will choose."

Obama said the United States, however, must "bear witness to the courage and dignity of the Iranian people, and to a remarkable opening within Iranian society. And we deplore violence against innocent civilians anywhere that it takes place."

The president made his remarks during a news conference at the White House.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Barack Obama said Tuesday that there is a "legitimate concern" about the ability of private insurers to compete with a public plan "if the public plan is simply eating (from) the taxpayer trough."

If that's the case, it'd be tough for private insurers to compete, Obama said. If, on the other hand, the "public plan must collect premiums and provide (good) services" like private insurers, then private insurers should have no problem competing with a public option.

Obama said he was hopeful that an efficiently-run public plan could help push private insurers to make similar cost-cutting moves.

The president made his remarks during a news conference at the White House.
Watch the event on CNN.com/live

WASHINGTON (CNN) An average of the most recent national polls indicates that six in 10 Americans approve of the job Barack Obama's doing as president.

According to a CNN Poll of Polls compiled Tuesday, 60 percent say they're happy with how Obama's handling his duties as president. Thirty-one percent disapprove of his performance.

"The president's average approval rating has held steady for the past two months," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland Tuesday. "Obama's average approval rating in the seven polls taken in early June was 61 percent, and the average approval rating of the five polls taken in May was also 61 percent."

While Obama's overall approval rating remains basically unchanged, his marks on some specific issues have dropped over the past few months.

Joel Sawyer, Sanford's communication's director, also said in a statement Tuesday the governor called his chief of staff Tuesday morning and was "somewhat taken aback by all of the interest this trip has gotten."

"Given the circumstances and the attention this has garnered, the governor communicated to us that he plans on returning to the office tomorrow," Sawyer said in the statement.

Full statement:

Governor Sanford called to check in with his Chief of Staff this morning. It would be fair to say the governor was somewhat taken aback by all of the interest this trip has gotten.

Given the circumstances and the attention this has garnered, the governor communicated to us that he plans on returning to the office tomorrow.

(CNN) - Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee officially endorsed Marco Rubio's Senate bid Tuesday, becoming the latest conservative to break with the national party over the GOP Senate primary race in Florida.

"I had a chance to get to know Marco over the years, spent a lot of time in Florida with him. And I've never seen a more energetic, articulate, principled conservative as Marco Rubio," Huckabee said in a video posted on his Web site.

"Marco loves liberty. He loves the idea that people can work hard and maybe get to keep something of what they worked hard for. That's the difference," he added.

Rubio faces Charlie Crist, the popular Florida governor, for the nomination. Crist immediately won the support of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee as well as a string of GOP leaders in Congress.

Conservative activists and bloggers have expressed disappointment the party was so quick to write off Rubio, a charismatic 38-year-old of Cuban descent whose quick rise in state politics and conservative credentials have won admiration from many in the party.

Huckabee's endorsement - first leaked accidentally more than three weeks ago - comes a week after South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint also threw his support behind Rubio, declaring he was "convinced" the former Florida House Speaker could beat Crist.

Recent polls show Crist with more than a 30-point lead in the race, though primary voters won't head to the polls for more than a year.

Clyburn said the governor should have told more people where he was going.

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) - South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn said Tuesday that Gov. Mark Sanford should have told the state's lieutenant governor he would be traveling out of state before embarking on a hiking trip along the Appalachian Trail.

"I wish he had called the lieutenant governor and at least alerted him to the fact that he was going to be out of pocket," Clyburn told CNN. "That way we would not have any kind of possible crisis."

But Clyburn, the highest-ranking African-American in Congress, said he understands the need for politicians to escape from the public eye every now and then. "I think that we give up a lot of our privacy when he get into public office," he said.

Sanford reportedly left Columbia last Thursday in a state law enforcement vehicle. Clyburn said he did not think it was unusual for an official to slip away without telling security.

"I went to the barber shop this morning," Clyburn said. "I didn't tell my security detail. I think a lot of time we do that. So I don't see any real harm in that. But leaving the state is another question."

"I wish he had chosen the Palmetto Trail to hike upon, that way he could have stayed within the state and not created a possible crisis," he said.